Bears fall to Forsyth in Districts

The difficult and often frustrating season for the Willow Springs Bears came to an end Friday night in Forsyth as they took on the 7-2 Forsyth Panthers in the first round of districts.

The Bears came out strong on the opening play of the game, recovering their own onside kick.  Going for it on fourth down, a pass interference penalty against the Panthers gifted the Bears a new set of downs.  However, the Bears were unable to convert this into any more yardage and punted on the next series.  The extremely quick Forsyth team scored on their second play of the game, a 72-yard run.

The Bears were dealing with bad snaps, fumbles, interceptions and difficulty moving the ball on the ground.  The speed of the Forsyth Panthers, powered in part by sophomore TaMarkus Holmes, built up a 50-0 lead by midway through the second quarter, but the Bears were not going to go down without a fight.  Taking the wheel, Aiden Stuart, in at quarterback, darted 56 yards to set up his own QB keeper from the one-yard line for a touchdown.  The positive momentum did not last as Forsyth responded with a kickoff return for another touchdown on their side of the scoreboard.  The Panthers led at halftime, 58-7.

On the opening series of the second half, Stuart opened up again for a 65-yard touchdown run.  Minutes later, Jordan Rutledge tacked on another score for the Bears, ambling up the middle to make the score 65-20.  Also contributing in the second half for the Bears were Leric Chaney and Aiden Messex, creating some havoc on defense, and Messex adding an impressive kick return.

Rutledge intercepted the ball late in the fourth quarter and ran it back close to the ten-yard line of the Panthers.  The Bears were unable to get the ball into the end zone and attempted a field goal that fell just short.

The final score was 65-20, Forsyth.  However disappointing the season was for Bear fans, the team kept showing up and showing grit to the very end.